Version 1.0 release emphasizes stability, developer-friendly plugins.

After years of development, a shift from closed source to open source, and the advent of popular competitors like Alfred, the OS X productivity tool Quicksilver is finally leaving behind the beta tag it has been carrying around since 2003. According to the Quicksilver blog, the new release "means more than just a change in the version numbering system—it signifies a maturity of Quicksilver and a sign of what’s to come."

Version 1.0.0, which supports OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 is available to download from Quicksilver's website. Quicksilver still has the same core feature set the app has always had: it allows users to quickly launch applications and open files with just a few keyboard shortcuts or mouse gestures (called "triggers" in Quicksilver-ese). The pitch for the app is very simple, but its extensive customization features and plugin library allow it to hook into many popular OS X apps, saving you the trouble of having to use your mouse to drag around and interact with the operating system. These plugins are another key focus for version 1.0.0, and the Quicksilver developers hope to be able to attract them back to the ecosystem.

"We need to make it as easy as possible for developers and users to create plugins and AppleScript extensions for Quicksilver," said Patrick Robertson, one of Quicksilver's lead developers, in an interview on the Quicksilver blog. "The true power of Quicksilver comes from our plugin developers, so I’ll be happy once we have a strong dev community back on our side creating great plugins, and over the coming months I’m going to be working hard to try and achieve this."

Version 1.0.0 also offers preliminary support for Retina displays and the ability to make the same trigger perform different tasks in different applications, but it will be the last release to support OS X 10.6 and 32-bit mode. The other changes and fixes can be found in Quicksilver's changelog.

I find this pretty funny. I've been using Quicksilver for years, probably close to 10 years actually, and it's always been an extremely solid program. It's great that it's officially out of beta, but it's not as though it were unstable or in need of work before today.

Quicksilver is a fantastic application and it's almost exclusively how I launch programs. Glad to see it "go live."

Wow. I used to use this all the time, but I had lots of issues with bugs (in the 2005-2008 timeframe). I think that it has been largely supplanted by Spotlight and Google, which collectively perform the majority of what I used to use Quicksilver for. I never understood why they had so many stability problems for what seems like a pretty simple idea.

I totally loved QS until Apple came with Spotlight and while it does much less than Quicksilver it does what it does in a such more obvious way that I stopped using Quicksilver almost from one day to the next.

I just stopped bothering with all the totally cryptic ways QS can do things with other things after I could hit Cmd-Space for Spotlight and just type something and either hit Enter or select something from the menu then. And yes, I'm fairly sure that Quicksilver was the inspiration for Spotlight. If Apple just would listen to independent Jailbreak developers for iOS this way...

I used to love quicksilver, but spotlight just works for 99% of what I ever used it for. And really when I want to do anything tricky I just command-tab over to the terminal and bang away until I get my job done

I've been using QuickSilver for so long, I had become totally ignorant that it was still in beta. It just sits there in the background until I call on it. I haven't had stability issues with it for years. These days, it feels more like a part of the OS since I'm so used to it being there.

I've used Quicksilver since the program was near dead. The main reason I stayed with Quicksilver is because of its plugins and ability to interact with other Mac programs. Here are my favorite plugins:

1Password plugin: better than using the regular browser extension because Quicksilver is better at learning. If I type "G" in Quicksilver it shows Gmail. Also, the ability to choose login first, then which browser to open it in.

Display plugin: makes it easy to change desktop background.

Safari and Chrome plugins: obvious, you get all your bookmarks and history

Service Menu Plugin: I can type text into Quicksilver and then send it to Omnifocus, Notational Velocity, Fantastical or any other service enabled application that likes text. Or analyzing media files with apps like Mediainfo. And so on.

User inteface plugin: I can access all menu items with a few keystrokes. Think Ubuntu HUD before there was Ubuntu HUD.

And of course all the other benefits of using Quicksilver: browsing the file system, access recently used files just by right arrow into an application, launching, quitting, and toggling apps with triggers (including menu bar apps), ejecting external drives...

I've been using QuickSilver for so long, I had become totally ignorant that it was still in beta. It just sits there in the background until I call on it. I haven't had stability issues with it for years. These days, it feels more like a part of the OS since I'm so used to it being there.

One reason I prefer Spotlight is the fact that it is indeed part of the OS and on any Mac I can hit it and have it right there. Having to work with random machines makes you appreciate what the OS vendor does much more than what you can do while configuring away nights on your own device, really.

I switched over to Alfred some time ago because QS was way too crashy. Now I need a compelling reason if I'm going to switch back.

It's a lot less crashy?

(As the name suggests, I run @LoveQuicksilver)

Affirmative. It's been an extremely long time since I've seen crashy behavior from QS and I've been using it since the Alcor days.

If Spotlight can replace what you were using Quicksilver for, you might as well just keep using Spotlight or Alfred. There's a bit of a learning curve with Quicksilver, but the thing is ridiculously versatile.

Yes, this is one thing Spotlight actually got WORSE in one of the last updates. At first Spotlight did learn: If you looked for something (like an app) with a certain string and then launched the second hit, it learned and offered this as the first hit sooner or later. This changed a while ago and now it doesn't learn anymore. It really could be a bit more clever.

Speaking of clever: If Apple doesn't integrate Siri (for typed free-language commands) with Spotlight in the next major OS X update, I will give finally up on them. Apps like Fantastical (which parse natural language event descriptions and create an event for them in the calendar, there are several of them meanwhile, I use QuickCal because it's cheaper) are so much more useful than clicking around in iCal that this should be the most obvious thing to integrate with Spotlight.

I mean, speech recognition is one thing, but on a desktop doing the same with language recognition of things you can TYPE as well as say should be almost something that comes free with that. If Apple doesn't get this, they have totally lost it.

I've used QS for years and years. When I get on a Mac without it I feel a bit lost. Yea Spotlight can launch Applications, but its too slow. QS is fast, extremely versatile and pretty. I basically only use it to launch programs, but I COULD use it for so much more if I needed to.

And I've been using it since 2004 or so and there was only one release that crashed on me and that issue was resolved within a week if I recall. Even when it was sort of abandoned it at least worked 100% until development picked back up on it. Ironically I discovered QS while attending the same college as this article's author.

I still use Spotlight to search for files, etc.

I love QS. Just wish Windows had a free QS clone that was as simple and easy/simple to use. And no, the windows key + typing doesn't count...

There's tons of overlap between the three apps, but I'd like to see which one reigns supreme.

I think many people prefer one or the other because it's the one they are most familiar with. I find that people that think Alfred is superior to the others, haven't used LaunchBar extensively and vice versa.

I ditched QuickSilver years ago after comparing it with LaunchBar. Aside from being donationware, what are compelling reasons to switch from LaunchBar to QuickSilver? Or from either of those to Alfred? Also, Butler?

THAT's the article I'd love to see, Ars. Someone who EXTENSIVELY uses all three and make a rigorous comparison of them. It's been years since I've read good one.

I have always heard of Quicksilver but I never gave it a try. I guess I should have because it would be right up my alley. I gave Alfred a go about a week ago on recommendation of one of my comp sci professors and I absolutely adore it. There are so many handy little workflow scripts that make things so much easier. My favourite is by far having Terminal in whatever folder I have opened. I use Terminal a ton for compiling and running things (I am just finishing first year computer science and I am teaching myself Python on the side) and this makes things so much faster. Having key combinations open certain programs is so handy. I have Terminal set to option-space, control-R for Rdio, and control-W for TextWrangler.

I am definitely going to check out LaunchBar too. It seems like with these productivity applications it is a lot more about preference but I might as well check out Alfred's competition.

Wow. I used to use this all the time, but I had lots of issues with bugs (in the 2005-2008 timeframe). I think that it has been largely supplanted by Spotlight and Google, which collectively perform the majority of what I used to use Quicksilver for. I never understood why they had so many stability problems for what seems like a pretty simple idea.

Much of it is because the original developer used a ton of hacks (by hack I don't mean security) to make it do various functions. When he left the project the folks that took it over said they had a ton of difficulty trying to figure out what all this strange code did. It was always quirky. That's largely why I moved to Alfred because QS worked very inconsistently with 10.8.

Heh, and here's me thinking they had stopped development a long time ago. I've been using QS for years. I hate Spotlight: it's too slow for a launcher, too coarse-grained for a finder, and its indexing used to bring my disk I/O virtually to a standstill. Glad to know that QS is alive and kicking.

I used to use QS with 10.4 and 10.5 but I stopped using it once 10.6 rolled around. Spotlight in 10.6 was good enough to replace QS, without the instability, and using an SSD in the system meant searches were pretty much instantaneous. If only Spotlight had proper boolean search so it could be like a local Google...

Launchy is good. It sticks to what is in your start menu, so it's not a true QS/Alfred/Spotlight clone, but it very adequately serves as my all-the-time application launcher when I have to use Win32 for work.

Nothing allows me to fantasize about the *promise* of getting work done quickly like customizing Quicksilver...

Switched to Launchbar/Keyboard Maestro for a while when the developer left for google, and switched back this year when I heard it was more stable again. So very very glad that QS is still alive and rocking. It's the program that made me realize that the command-line braggarts weren't just bullshitting when they talk about how powerful and fast they are (though its not QUITE the same thing).

I moved away from Quicksilver when they went through their "Not sure if we're canceling he project or not" phase.

I went to LaunchBar. It's not free, but $32 for a program I have used literally every day since June 2009 seems totally worth it.

Launchbar is actually the program that started it all.I, honestly, don't know why they didn't sue Apple and Microsoft for, so blatantly, copying their concept. And if they couldn't sue them for plagiary then they should have sue them for doing such a poor job at implementing a Launchbar "alternative".

I switched over to Alfred some time ago because QS was way too crashy.

Same here. Once the word got out that new developers took over QS I switched back again.

Ever since then, Quicksilver has received new updates regularly. I haven't experienced a QS crash in months. In fact, I don't even remember the last time it crashed. So, I'd call it stable.

I always preferred QS over other solutions (Spotlight, Alfred,.... ) because it makes use of the beautiful big icons in OS X. It also has plenty really nice features and plugins that are free for everyone. You can run write and shell commands, execute AppleScripts, move files to trash, .... Its awesome! My no. 1 productivity app!

"oh yes, Mr. Siracusa, Ars Technica calling... thank you for taking our call. Say, would you be interested in helping us out with a little, and much needed little article we have in mind? It's a little application review of sorts.. a mini assessment of 3 storied Mac gems in need of, and we feel worthy of, a little Siracusa critique. Oh, did I mention this need only be a 'little' writing assignment for Ars? Oh good, I did mention it. Oh, I should say, please don't let our need for a little article suggest our author's fee will be commensurately little. Yes, ha-ha, point well taken Mr. Siracusa -- as you say, we pay our writers too 'little' to begin with. Well, I'm happy to report Condé is changing that slave-like practice beginning now. Effective immediately, we're doubling all writers' compensation packages across the board, with equally large pay bumps at the start of each new year. Oh yes, yes, of course, Mr. Siracusa, your advice post-Mountain Lion review was heard upstairs -- yes, comprehensive dental coverage is now extended to spouses and children. Well said, Mr. Siracusa, Condé will still have a long road of repairs ahead for itself -- mend the county bridges, as you say. Uh, of course, I understand, you need to get back to work, Ive interrupted some screen time and scuppered a critical path. Well, let me just thank you very much for entertaining our idea for a little review with a little Siracusian critique. Oh you will consider the project? I'm so pleased. Say, did I mention we need just a little review? Oh, twice now? Silly me.. my apologies, I usually don't repeat myself. Well, again, thank you for your time Mr. Siracusa. Goodbye -- No, Wait !! There's more. I'm sorry, one last remunerative follow-up detail I may have missed: did I mention there's a 30% bonus to your fee if you keep the review under 40,000 words?....... Mr. Siracusa? Are you there??..... --- click"

Nothing much to add here that hasn't already been said, but I have fond memories of Quicksilver and its quirky, almost mystical, user interface. I left it when I heard it wouldn't continue and found myself weeping whenever I had to use a Mac that didn't have it installed, which was often. I only just found out others had picked up the QS project & were developing it further, but these days I find Alfred is enough for my simple needs and it'd take something pretty solid to drag me away from it.

Have they made it more accessible to novices without hours of tweaking? When I gave it a try about 6 months ago I eventually gave up after sinking into a morass of configuration options with folders-searched and depth-of-search. And I think I'm relatively tolerant of heavy-duty configuration, since I run my twoblogs on Octopress, and do my writing in a package-laden install of Sublime Text 2.

I just want to search for and open files faster than I can in Spotlight; is there some obvious way to do this that I'm missing? Can I just open .pdfs wherever I put them on my system by searching for keywords inside the .pdf? Or open my Scrivener docs even if I choose to bury them eight directories deep in my rat's-nest of a Dropbox?

I used QS extensively when it first appeared and it was frustrating using a Mac without it. I switched to Alfred + Powerpack when QS got crashy and currently see no reason to switch back. The recent Alfred 2.0 release has been great (except for the initial inability to import 1.0 extensions).

Spotlight can't do a lot of what I have Alfred do: launch multiple apps with a key word; 1Password integration; fuzzy matching of terms; etc. Spotlight is great for finding things, but as a launcher, for ME, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Since Alfred has been great (and the core app is free), I probably won't be moving back to QS in the near future.

Have they made it more accessible to novices without hours of tweaking? When I gave it a try about 6 months ago I eventually gave up after sinking into a morass of configuration options with folders-searched and depth-of-search. And I think I'm relatively tolerant of heavy-duty configuration, since I run my twoblogs on Octopress, and do my writing in a package-laden install of Sublime Text 2.

I just want to search for and open files faster than I can in Spotlight; is there some obvious way to do this that I'm missing? Can I just open .pdfs wherever I put them on my system by searching for keywords inside the .pdf? Or open my Scrivener docs even if I choose to bury them eight directories deep in my rat's-nest of a Dropbox?

New feature: 'Add To Catalog' action. Adds pane 1's folder to the catalog and points you right to the 'Include Contents' button where you can set to 'Infinite'. Whatever's in there will then be accessible from pane 1! Just be sensible, and don't do it to your home folder.

I used QS extensively when it first appeared and it was frustrating using a Mac without it. I switched to Alfred + Powerpack when QS got crashy and currently see no reason to switch back. The recent Alfred 2.0 release has been great (except for the initial inability to import 1.0 extensions).

Spotlight can't do a lot of what I have Alfred do: launch multiple apps with a key word; 1Password integration; fuzzy matching of terms; etc. Spotlight is great for finding things, but as a launcher, for ME, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Since Alfred has been great (and the core app is free), I probably won't be moving back to QS in the near future.

I used QS extensively when it first appeared and it was frustrating using a Mac without it. I switched to Alfred + Powerpack when QS got crashy and currently see no reason to switch back. The recent Alfred 2.0 release has been great (except for the initial inability to import 1.0 extensions).

Spotlight can't do a lot of what I have Alfred do: launch multiple apps with a key word; 1Password integration; fuzzy matching of terms; etc. Spotlight is great for finding things, but as a launcher, for ME, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Since Alfred has been great (and the core app is free), I probably won't be moving back to QS in the near future.

Quicksilver does way more than Alfred's core app.

True, but I bought the PowerPack which does everything I need. QS may be more powerful in total, but Alfred w/PowerPack is everything I need. Don't get me wrong, when I used QS it was an indispensable tool and is probably a valid choice for those needing it's unique capabilities or not already invested in a competing product that meets their needs. I am not one of those at this time.

When I came back to the MacOS after years with Linux, this was THE application/tool to install on your Mac. I remember it was huge and people like Merlin Mann would evangelize the hell out of this, and there would be a huge community centered around using it and tips and tricks.

Then it seemed like overnight it just died. It's like NO one talked about it or anything. I had honestly forgotten about it until just now.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.